128GB iPhones and iPads may be coming sooner than later

iOS beta shows support for 128GB flash drives, despite the current 64GB limit.

If you're an iOS user who is constantly running out of storage space on your iPad or iPhone, there might be some light on the horizon. Some of the most recent developer betas of iOS 6.1 include firmware support for iOS devices with 128GB of flash storage. While current iDevices max out at 64GB, the support for larger flash drives may be a hint that upcoming iPhone and iPad models could come in capacities up to 128GB—perhaps sooner rather than later.

iOS developer "iNeal" tweeted about the 128GB configuration keys appearing in the fifth developer preview of iOS 6.1, though apparently Apple snuck the support into iOS 6.1 as early as the third developer preview. As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple has boosted the top-end capacity of the iPhone with each "S" model—the iPhone 3GS raised the top capacity from 16GB to 32GB, and the iPhone 4S boosted it from 32GB to 64GB. If Apple releases an "iPhone 5S" as it is widely expected to later this year, logic suggests Apple could continue the pattern and bump the top storage spec to 128GB.

The iPad, however, might get a storage bump before a new model is released later this year. Sources for 9to5Mac have shared new retail SKU information that suggests a new "Ultimate" configuration of the existing fourth-generation iPad is coming soon. Reported pricing associated with the new SKU—$799 for a Wi-Fi model and $929 for a Wi-Fi + Cellular model—is in line with what we would expect for a 128GB iPad considering the existing price structure.

However, releasing an updated iPad model mid-cycle would be out of character for Apple. We know that no matter what the storage limit is for an iOS device, there are always users who want more, but it seems more likely that Apple would debut a 128GB iPad model along with the next hardware revision. Still, leaked retail SKUs have generally been a strong indicator of upcoming Apple products in the past, and the company has definitely been more willing to break with past traditions of late.

None of the evidence so far gives any indication of when Apple might release a 128GB iPod touch. The extra thin design might not be able to accommodate extra NAND chips if needed to reach that capacity, though higher density NAND could be used instead. If Apple hits 128GB for the iPod touch, the capacity could be high enough to finally retire the iPod classic, which hasn't been updated in four years and counting.

The ridiculous up-charge Apple makes on their storage capacities was one of the biggest reasons I've never bought a device from them. It's ridiculous, but people still shell out money for it, apparently. You're paying an extra $300 for another 102 GB of storage, but heaven help you if Apple should put a MicroSD card slot in.

My local news station was reporting on this earlier today. They all seemed really confused at whether this was going to be another "The New iPad" or just the same iPad with more memory. I think customer confusion seems to be working as part of the marketing strategy.

"Wait, there's another new one? I don't have the best one? I guess I could spring for another."

Every time I've had a significant upgrade of storage on my desktop computer, I've always managed to max it out eventually, even when it feels so big that I can't comprehend doing so at the time. My first Mac was an original Bondi Blue iMac with a 4GB drive, and I remember thinking "How will I ever fill this up?" About two or there years later, after discovering MP3s (yay, Audion!), and doing tons of graphic design work, I had to start offloading a bunch of stuff on to 100MB ZIP disks just to be able to launch more than one app at a time. Subsequent machines had 20, 40, 80, and 120GB drives, all of which seemed huge at the time, and all of which were eventually filled with PDFs, digital photos, software downloads, iMovie projects, etc.

I've got a 64GB 4S and I'm constantly fighting for storage. Its all the bloody TV shows, movies and games I chuck on there. A 128GB iphone would be cool, but why don't they just combine a microSD slot/holder into the SIM tray. The space they've 'saved' with the nano sim might as well be put to use.

About damned time. Cloud music doesn't cut it for me, thanks. I'd rather not have skips every time there's network congestion, or wait to re-buffer every time I want to skip a song. Oh, I'd also like to listen to FLAC instead of MP3.

The cloud is nice and all, but it is a supplement to, not replacement for, local storage. We should have phones with capacities edging into the terrabyte range by now.

I don't even use Apple stuff, but I'm glad to see some major manufacturer getting over its cloud fetish.

Since so many of us are now using our phones for media storage and games, the more storage space, the better. My son has an 8GB iPod Touch that he uses primarily for gaming, and it filled up about two days after he got it.

And I agree that cloud storage is a nice supplemental storage solution, but I prefer to listen to music from local files. Driving around rural Ohio, I'm not always within range of cellular data.

I've got a 64GB iPhone 5 and I don't have to battle "storage full" messages from iTunes all the time when I had a 32GB model. Ironically, the thing that keeps me from filling it up more is that I now get "storage full" messages from iCloud when I have too many pictures or HD video on the phone.

The ridiculous up-charge Apple makes on their storage capacities was one of the biggest reasons I've never bought a device from them. It's ridiculous, but people still shell out money for it, apparently. You're paying an extra $300 for another 102 GB of storage, but heaven help you if Apple should put a MicroSD card slot in.

The ridiculous up-charge Apple makes on their storage capacities was one of the biggest reasons I've never bought a device from them. It's ridiculous, but people still shell out money for it, apparently. You're paying an extra $300 for another 102 GB of storage, but heaven help you if Apple should put a MicroSD card slot in.

What planet are you on that Apple is the only one that's doing an absurd upcharge for a memory bump? Yes, the price for upgraded storage on tablets and phones is ridiculous. No, it's not even remotely unique to Apple.

The ridiculous up-charge Apple makes on their storage capacities was one of the biggest reasons I've never bought a device from them. It's ridiculous, but people still shell out money for it, apparently. You're paying an extra $300 for another 102 GB of storage, but heaven help you if Apple should put a MicroSD card slot in.

What planet are you on that Apple is the only one that's doing an absurd upcharge for a memory bump? Yes, the price for upgraded storage on tablets and phones is ridiculous. No, it's not even remotely unique to Apple.

I've got a 16GB phone and I haven't even filled that, how can you people fill 64GB, let alone 128GB!

Music.

I currently have 15 of my favourite full albums, plus some misc. songs, 10 downloaded apps, a bunch of (8MP/1080p) photos and video clips, and I use the email client for two accounts... and I've only used 4.3GB.

Does the need to always have every song you've ever heard with you, justify paying for more storage?

David Hovis wrote:

huntsville wrote:

Music.

HD video takes up way more space than music.

Even with that, the top resolution on the iPhone 5 for instance, is 1136x640, even with my 16GB, I could carry around like 3 movies at that resolution, and still have space left for all my other stuff.

The ridiculous up-charge Apple makes on their storage capacities was one of the biggest reasons I've never bought a device from them. It's ridiculous, but people still shell out money for it, apparently. You're paying an extra $300 for another 102 GB of storage, but heaven help you if Apple should put a MicroSD card slot in.

Upon answering questions about the Nexus lineup on Google+, Google's director of user services on Android, Matias Duarte, said offering consumers expandable memory through SD cards was apparently too confusing.

"Everybody likes the idea of having an SD card, but in reality it's just confusing for users," he said. "If you're saving photos, videos or music, where does it go? Is it on your phone? Or on your card? Should there be a setting? Prompt every time? What happens to the experience when you swap out the card? It's just too complicated."

Instead of implementing SD card support, Nexus devices offers a fixed amount of space that "apps just seamlessly… use", with users not having to "worry about files or volumes or any of that techy nonsense left over from the paleolithic era of computing"

It may as well have been Steve Jobs saying that back in 2007 because the reasons haven't changed since then. It just took Google a bit longer to come around.

The ridiculous up-charge Apple makes on their storage capacities was one of the biggest reasons I've never bought a device from them. It's ridiculous, but people still shell out money for it, apparently. You're paying an extra $300 for another 102 GB of storage, but heaven help you if Apple should put a MicroSD card slot in.

What planet are you on that Apple is the only one that's doing an absurd upcharge for a memory bump? Yes, the price for upgraded storage on tablets and phones is ridiculous. No, it's not even remotely unique to Apple.

IMO it is instant justice. Anyone doing this paying the price for their misplaced snobbery. High quality lossy encodes are indistinguishable from loss-less for the majority of humans.

MP3 is fine for headphones. When you want to use it as a jukebox, though... run it through an amp, say in a car the sound difference becomes much more noticeable. This is especially the case when the sound gets dynamically quadraphonic'ed up.

MP3 is fine for headphones. When you want to use it as a jukebox, though... run it through an amp, say in a car the sound difference becomes much more noticeable. This is especially the case when the sound gets dynamically quadraphonic'ed up.

High bitrate MP3 is fine for playback anywhere. For a properly encoded high bit rate MP3/AAC chances are you simply can't tell the difference regardless of listening device.

There are few individuals with preternatural hearing that can, but this is a miniscule portion of the population compared to the masses online who claim they can, out of a combination of snobbery, and the placebo effect.

Every time I've had a significant upgrade of storage on my desktop computer, I've always managed to max it out eventually, even when it feels so big that I can't comprehend doing so at the time. My first Mac was an original Bondi Blue iMac with a 4GB drive, and I remember thinking "How will I ever fill this up?" About two or there years later, after discovering MP3s (yay, Audion!), and doing tons of graphic design work, I had to start offloading a bunch of stuff on to 100MB ZIP disks just to be able to launch more than one app at a time. Subsequent machines had 20, 40, 80, and 120GB drives, all of which seemed huge at the time, and all of which were eventually filled with PDFs, digital photos, software downloads, iMovie projects, etc.

What, are you going to edit a movie or record a hit single while on the bus to work?

Last time I checked, most people are not Ludwig van Beethoven on steroids, don't have 1080p displays on their phones and are perfectly capable of spending 5mins a year offloading (or at least transcoding) shit they will never ever use again, to a more economical form of storage.

That said, where there's a market for extra storage in lieu of common sense, the industry would be fools not to capitalize on it.

The ridiculous up-charge Apple makes on their storage capacities was one of the biggest reasons I've never bought a device from them. It's ridiculous, but people still shell out money for it, apparently. You're paying an extra $300 for another 102 GB of storage, but heaven help you if Apple should put a MicroSD card slot in.

What planet are you on that Apple is the only one that's doing an absurd upcharge for a memory bump? Yes, the price for upgraded storage on tablets and phones is ridiculous. No, it's not even remotely unique to Apple.

I didn't say it was exclusive to them, some companies match their pricing, others are far less (I think a number of companies charge about half what Apple does for bumping up the storage). The lack of an SD Card that forces you to pay exorbitant prices is what gets me. It's pretty hard to justify on a large profit margin device that is supposedly top of its class. For the record, I fault Google's Nexus line for the same idiocy, but they do undersell others so that's a little in their favor.

Having just put a compact flash card (and new battery) in my old 2nd gen ipod mini, I'm getting a kick out of the 128 GB idea. (Wasn't sure it'd work so only went for a 32GB CF rather than the ~$150 128GB card.

I have the 64GB versions of both the new iPod and 3rd gen iPad. I am full on the iPod and 3/4 full on the iPad. Music only on the iPod too. Books and comics and magazines and documents on the iPad. I don't even have video on it because I know I'll run out of space. A 128GB in either would be wonderful.

BTW, on the music front, I don't use fancy lossless codecs, just MP3 or iTunes' usual. But I have almost 6,000 songs and I'm not about to stop collecting. Plus I am often in areas sans wifi and with piss poor cellular, such that Match and cloud solutions aren't as viable. And I am old school/fart enough to want all my music on the one damn device all the time.